“Everyone thinks they can write, because everybody writes,” said Rasenberger, referring to the proliferation of casual texting, emailing and tweeting. But she distinguishes these from professional writers “who have been working on their craft and art of writing for years.” “What a professional writer can convey in written word is far superior to what the rest of us can do,” said Rasenberger. “As a society we need that, because it’s a way to crystallize ideas, make us see things in a new way and create understanding of who we are as a people, where we are today and where we’re going.”